


Baby Brother

by orphan_account



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies)
Genre: Babies, Fluff, Gen, Sibling Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-04
Updated: 2014-05-04
Packaged: 2018-01-21 20:52:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1563653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fíli has a new baby brother.</p><p>He's not too sure how he feels about that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Baby Brother

**Author's Note:**

  * For [liddie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/liddie/gifts).



> A very belated birthday present for the lovely [liddie](http://archiveofourown.org/users/liddie/pseuds/liddie). Apologies for the lateness, and for the awful title.
> 
> And we're going to say that Dwarven babies grow at a rate similar to humans and slow down when they're a bit older, partly because I don't want to inflict a long infancy and toddlerhood on Dwarven parents, and partly because I wanted Fíli at about a five-year-old development level.

Fíli shifted impatiently, staring at the doorway. His da was walking back and forth across the room, and he kept pressing a knuckle to his lips. His uncle was sitting and smoking, glaring at the air in front of him.

A strangled-sounding yell made Fíli flinch slightly and drew his uncle and da’s attention.

“I'm going in there,” Da said, starting toward the door. Uncle got up to stand in his way. 

“They'll only throw you out again,” he said. “Better to wait until we're called. Dís will make it through just fine without either one of us there to get in the way.”

Da relaxed a bit, which reassured Fíli, but he still worried. 

"Did mama yell so much when I was born?" he asked, finding his voice now that the grownups had broken the silence. Both his da and his uncle looked around at him in surprise, then shared a glance with each other.

Da crouched in front of him and grinned. “Oh, aye, she hollered up a storm when you were born,” he said, “even worse than now. You were her first baby, and first babies are usually the hardest.”

Fíli considered this new information. “So is having a baby very hard?” he asked, a frown starting to crease his forehead. He hadn’t realized _he’d_ caused just as much fuss as the new baby was. Maybe even more fuss.

“Very hard indeed,” Uncle said gravely, “which is why your mama doesn’t need any distractions in the room with her, so we’re waiting out here.” He gave Da a look during that last bit.

Fíli nodded in acceptance and settled in again, this time taking a seat on the floor, still watching the door. Even if he needed to wait a while, he wanted to be ready to go in and check on Mama when she was done.

~*~

Fíli jerked awake a few hours later to find his uncle leaning over him. His da was nowhere to be seen.

“Are you ready to meet your younger brother, Fíli?” Thorin asked, and Fíli nodded, though truthfully he wanted more to see that his mama was all right.

And she was, though she looked very tired. She smiled and called him up onto her bed and tucked him into her side, holding him close.

“Would you like to meet your new little brother, my darling?” she asked, and Fíli nodded, more willing to be interested in the baby now that he knew his mama was safe.

His da stepped closer to the bed, and Fíli saw for the first time that he held a bundle wrapped in blankets. It looked very small in Da's hands. Fíli was suddenly worried that he might hurt it. But Mama was here, and surely she'd keep it safe.

And then Da was handing it over (“Support his head, Fíli, he can’t hold it up yet”), and Fíli saw his little brother for the first time.

He bit his lip in dismay. The baby was _ugly_. His face looked all smushed, and he was all mottled red. It clashed with his fine dark hair.

But Mama had worked so _hard_ , and Uncle always said Dwarves took pride in what they made. He didn't want to insult her.

"His name is Kíli," Mama said, and Fíli nodded.

"Hullo, Kíli," he said dutifully, peering into the squished-up face. Kíli yawned.

Well. Maybe he was a _little_ cute.

~*~

The following weeks did nothing to improve Fíli’s opinion of his new brother, aside from improving his looks a bit. But at least if he’d stayed ugly, there would’ve been something interesting about him. As it was, he would only eat, sleep, poop, and cry.

The crying was the worst. A high, thin wail that somehow managed to get into Fíli’s head and echo around there until Mama (or Da, sometimes, but it was usually when he was hungry) made him _stop_.

But even when he wasn’t crying, he was _boring_. He slept all the time, and that meant Fíli had to be quiet. And he wasn’t any fun; he only lay there and couldn’t even play. (Fíli was given to understand that a younger brother would be a guaranteed playmate, so this disappointment was especially bitter.)

So he mostly left the baby to the adults, until the day Mama spread out a blanket in front of the hearth and laid Kíli down.

“Fíli, will you watch your brother for me?” she asked as she made sure he was comfortable.

“Mama, why?” Fíli asked plaintively. “I wanna play. Kíli doesn’t do _anything_.”

“Please, my darling, it would be a great help,” she said, reaching out to tuck his hair behind his ear. He scowled, but nodded, and she smiled at him. “Thank you. Now, don’t take your eyes off of him, all right? He’s very small still, and he needs his big brother to look after him.”

Fíli sighed heavily, and plopped down on the blanket next to the baby. Mama smiled at him one last time and turned to go to the kitchen, leaving Fíli with nothing to do but stare at his brother.

Kíli was sucking on his own fingers, and blinked curiously when Fíli leaned over to regard him.

“A-ahh,” he said, waving his hands up at Fíli. Fíli pulled a face.

“M’not picking you up,” he said churlishly.

Kíli whined, and a tiny wrinkle formed on his tiny brow. “Ah!” he demanded.

Fíli moved closer, scowling. “I said no—ow!”

Kíli had grabbed hold of one of his braids, and was determinedly pulling it toward his mouth.

“Stop it, Kíli!” Fíli shouted, prying his hair out of his brother’s hand. Kíli started crying.

“Is everything all right, Fíli?” Mama called, and Fíli gave the doorway a guilty look. He was meant to be looking after the baby, not making him cry.

“Yes, Mama,” he replied, and hovered over Kíli uncomfortably. How to make him _stop_?

“I’m sorry, Kíli,” he tried, trying to speak in the low, soothing tone his parents used with the baby. His hands fluttered indecisively around Kíli’s head for a moment before he carefully stroked his fine, soft hair.

Kíli’s sobs tapered off, though he continued to whimper and hiccup miserably. Fíli lay next to him so he could get closer to his face, curling around him protectively.

“Hello,” he said softly, really examining Kíli for the first time. He stroked a soft cheek, marveling at how small he still was.

Kíli kicked with both legs, and let out a happy shriek. Fíli giggled.

“You look like a frog,” he said, propping himself up on his elbows to grin down at his brother. He reached out and grabbed one of the waving feet, marveling at how it fit in his hand. Kíli kicked even more enthusiastically with his other foot, squealing.

Fíli looked up, grinning so widely his cheeks ached, and found Kíli grinning back with a smile so full of joy his breath caught.

Maybe Kíli was turning out to be an all right little brother after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Just to assure you, Dís didn't actually leave the baby unattended with a five-year-old. She was watching from behind the door, she just wanted to give her boys a chance to bond.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
